Paradox of Coordination and Control

Download or read book Paradox of Coordination and Control written by Jody Hoffer Gittell and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 38 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper demonstrates that there are significant economic returns to crossfunctional coordination in organizations with highly interdependent work processes. But the results suggest a puzzling paradox as well. Contrary to the literature on empowerment, performance was also better in settings with a high ratio of supervisors to frontline employees. The case study evidence suggests that these supervisors were providing a new form of control over the process and supporting frontline employee behaviors needed to achieve the desired coordination. Thus, models that emphasize the importance of horizontal coordination may be incomplete without a more fully developed conception of organizational control.